USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 19
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Tons.
Dry goods received from Philadelphia and for sale here ... 1,250 Groceries received from Philadelphia and for sale here. 4,050
Shipped of Eastern goods by commission merchants ยท 4,000
Sent eastward. 5,300
Total east and west. 14,600
9,300 tons from eastward, carriage at $50 per ton. $465,000
5,300 tons sent eastward at $25 per ton. 132,500
Total $597,500
"A great quantity of Ohio tobacco has been forwarded by this port for the Baltimore market, where it commands a higher price for exportation than any other offered. On Wednesday last, at the Monongahela wharf, we saw a keel- boat from Zanesville unloading fifty hogsheads of it averaging nearly 1,000 pounds each" (h).
"It is supposed that upward of $500,000 worth of lumber has descended the Allegheny River this season" (i).
It was estimated that 50,000,000 feet of boards would come down the Alle- gheny River in the spring of 1828. Also shingles, square timber, sawlogs, tanbark, etc., to the value of $100,000, all having an aggregate value of $400,000 (j).
"Last year (1826) I bought in this place about 50,000 pounds of wool at all prices from eighteen cents to ninety-five cents per pound, amounting to nearly $20,000. This wool was grown in Allegheny, Washington, Beaver and Fayette counties of this State, Brook and Ohio counties of Virginia, and Belmont County of Ohio. The amount paid to the different wool growers varied from $5 to $2,400, which was the largest sum paid to any one person for a single crop of wool, but there were many whose crops exceeded $1,000" (k).
"About 2,600 persons with $2,000,000 of capital are employed in the fac- tories of Pittsburg. The Senate of Pennsylvania has passed a bill permitting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to enter that State providing a branch shall be made to Pittsburg, and as it is important to Baltimore as well as Pitts- burg that these cities should be 'joined together,' we hope and trust that such an act passed by Pennsylvania will be cheerfully accepted by the managers of this company. Pittsburg is, and must more and more become, the center of a vast and valuable business-the place of deposit for mighty quantities of the produce of the soil and industry of Western Pennsylvania and of the rich
(g) Pittsburg commission merchant to member of House of Representatives, Jan- uary, 1827.
(h) Pittsburg paper, May 25, 1827.
(i) Kittanning Columbian, April, 1827.
(j) Warren Gazette, April, 1828.
(k) Abishai Way in Pennsylvania Democrat, July 25, 1827.
167
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
southeastern section of Ohio, and enjoys many other natural advantages. Pittsburg is, even now, supplying iron for the navy of the United States. We wish every success to the industry of her enterprising people and desire an extension of domestic competition" (1).
The reader must not suppose that the Pittsburg of 1812, or 1815, or 1826, or 1836 was a dull inland town of little commercial force or importance. It was full of sagacious, tireless business men who crowded every avenue which might lead to financial success. Commission merchants were as keen then as now, and produce brokers lost no opportunity to make money. The immense carrying trade was one of the greatest sources of local revenue.
In 1828 Allen & Grant advertised for sale 109 bales of cotton,- 97 barrels of mackerel, 30 hogsheads and 20 barrels of New Orleans sugar, 20 barrels of molasses, 90 hogsheads of leaf tobacco, 20,000 pounds of pig lead and 4,000 pounds of bar lead. H. McShane advertised for sale 4,000 raccoon skins, 20 hogsheads of Kentucky leaf tobacco and 30 kegs of manufactured tobacco. Isaac Harris offered 50 barrels of mackerel, 100 hogsheads of sugar, 100 barrels of rye and apple whisky, 4,500 yards of flannel, linen, etc .; R. Lindell & Co., 2,000 muskrat skins, 2,000 raccoon skins, 50 bear skins, 30 bales of cotton; Riddle & Forsythe, 20,000 pounds of lead, 50 hogsheads of tobacco, II hogsheads of New Orleans sugar, etc .; A. Way & Co., 3,000 pounds of sole-leather; James H. Cresson & Co., 50 crates of Liverpool queensware; Thomas G. Gaylord, 600 crates of queensware; James H. Davis, 25,000 musk- rat skins.
In the autumn of 1828 all prices had climbed to an unusual and agreeable height. The building of the canal gave an extraordinary growth to the com- merce and population centering here. The canal contractors found in the early fall of 1828 that there were but 200 barrels of flour in stock here, where- upon they promptly bought it all, and the price immediately rose to $8 a barrel, but in October went down to about $5.
"Fifty-four boats measuring an aggregate of 7,705 tons have made 276 arrivals and 284 departures during the last year, and transported during the same time 34,350 tons, consisting principally of goods manufactured in Pitts- burg and the neighborhood and not a few of the boats with their engines were built there and sold abroad, thus going to swell the amount of commerce" .(m).
For the year ending December 23, 1829, there were gauged here 10,64I barrels of whisky, 922 barrels of molasses, 357 barrels of flaxseed oil, 96 barrels of apple brandy, 82 barrels of cherry bounce, 106 barrels of tar, 13 barrels of Seneca oil, and altogether 12,540 barrels of various other commodities. In that time the salt inspector branded 7,820 barrels.
Two merchants here each imported 1,200 to 1,500 crates of queensware in 1829. Immense quantities of merchandise were brought over the mountains and heavy cargoes of sugar, molasses, fish, cotton, rice, tin, flour, pork, whisky were brought up the river by the "Snag Marine Corps."
In March, 1830, the Erie Gasette stated that from ninety to one hundred flatboats would soon leave French Creek for Pittsburg, each loaded with an average of twenty-seven tons of hay, oats, potatoes, salt, staves, bark, shingles, lumber, etc., worth in Pittsburg $500. If the number of boats were one hundred the value of the cargoes was $50,000. These boats all started from the space of twenty-two miles on French Creek.
In 1833 flour was worth $4.25 to $4.50, but in February, 1834, had fallen to $2.62} when sold in large quantities. In December, 1833, a gentleman counted nearly one hundred boats loaded with coal on the Monongahela between this
(1) Niles Register, February 23, 1828
(m) Niles Register, July 26, 1828.
I68
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
place and Brownsville. In April, 1834, wheat was worth 56 cents, rye 50, corn 40, barley 40, oats 28, new whisky 23, old 35 and brandy 62.
Auctioneering wholesale stocks was a practice which injured the regular trade of Pittsburg merchants. Large shipments of foreign goods were obtained and sold at low prices for cash, and new stocks obtained and the method repeated, thus enabling the commission merchant to repeat his sales several times to the regular merchant's once. In 1833 nearly $2,000,000 worth of wool passed east- ward through Pittsburg.
In October, 1834, there arrived in Pittsburg over the canal nearly 1,800 tons of merchandise and produce in two weeks. During the last two weeks of that month the freight sent away on the canal amounted to almost 5,000,000 pounds, being about 1,000 wagon-loads. The total canal tolls collected here for the year ending November 1, 1834, were $16,704.99. The first week in November there were sent East over the canal nearly 900 tons of freight (u).
"The total value of coal annually shipped from the Monongahela and from the banks opposite Pittsburg may be estimated at about $100,000, is rapidly increasing in amount and must continue to increase, as the use of coal is becom- ing more general below" (o).
In January and February, 1834, the financial pressure in Pittsburg was very severe. One large manufacturing establishment was in a dilemma, not knowing whether to try to operate half time or close the works entirely (p). In March, 1834, owing to the low stage of water in the rivers, there were lying at the wharf here unable to leave for the West, where it had been sold, about 1,000 tons of all kinds of merchandise, while the purchasers fretted and prayed for rain. At this time lumber sold here at $4 per thousand feet.
"Two large covered boats have arrived at Pittsburg from Jamestown, New York, one of them laden with patent window-sashes, the other with patent wooden buckets and keelers, and an excellent market was found for each, 200 dozen of the sashes being bought by a merchant of Galena, at the lead mines, on the Upper Mississippi, being in all 2,000 miles of water navigation when they arrive there. The owner of the buckets, etc., was equally successful, and both boats would return with full cargoes of window-glass, nails and paints, etc., the productions of the industry of Pittsburg! There is also a patent sash and a bucket factory at Fallstown, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania" (q).
"One mercantile house in our city sells upward of a thousand dozen of window-sash per annum, with a rapidly increasing demand" (r).
"In order to give an idea of the amount of business now done in Pittsburg, the following statement has been procured front correct sources" (s):
Books and papers sold yearly $ 450,000
Drugs, medicines, paints, etc.
175,000
Hardware
400,000
White lead. 150,000
Beer and porter
80,000
Lumber
350,000
Pork
300,000
Glass, green and cut.
250,000
Sales of eight rolling-mills, nine foundries and seven en- gine factories. 1,690,000
Cotton business
360,000
Building and finishing steamboats
300,000
(n) Gazette, November 3, 1834.
(o) Gazette, December 1, 1834.
(p) Niles Register, February 8, 1834. (q) Niles Register, May 2, 1835.
(r) Gazette, April, 1835.
(s) Manufacturer, May, 1835.
169
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
Brush business.
$ 20,000
Copper and tin business.
75,000
Grocers and liquor dealers.
2,000,000
Wholesale and retail dry goods.
2,800,000
Plows, wagons, shovels, etc.
100,000
Coal. .
250,000
Furniture and leather
250,000
Total annual business $10,000,000
In June, 1835, salt became somewhat scarce and increased in price to $2 per barrel. For several years previous to this it had languished and sold as low as $1 per barrel of 280 pounds net, the barrel costing twenty-five cents and the freight twenty-five cents per barrel. In early years, when brought over the mountains on horseback, it had sold for $12 to $15 per bushel. In the thirties about 75,000 barrels passed through Pittsburg annually. It came here from the Conemaugh, Kiskeminetas, Kanawha, Monongahela, Onondaga, etc. (t).
Hard times were experienced here in the latter part of 1833 and all of 1834 and many merchants failed. The finances of the country were in a turmoil and the canal had transformed carriage facilities and created new trade relations. In 1835 trade revived and in 1836 was better than it had been before since 1830. In 1835 the canal company was obliged to put on double the number of boats daily eastward. From March 16, 1835, to June 22, 1835, inclusive, there were received from the East by canal 30,234,065 pounds of freight, and sent East by the same conveyance 16,653,429 pounds. Invariably before the canal opened in the spring large numbers of wagons competed for the con- veyance of freight. So great had grown the trade with Philadelphia in the spring of 1835 that that conservative city at last fully awoke to the importance of retaining it. There is no doubt that the greater enterprise of the New Yorkers in building the Erie and the Ohio and Erie canals had wrested from Philadelphia the larger portion of the immense trade of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, etc. Had Pennsylvania early built its canal to Pittsburg, thence another to Lake Erie, it is reasonable to conclude that the immense trade of the Western country would have poured through Pittsburg into Philadelphia and Balti- more. The construction of railways has since to a large extent retrieved the error of that period. The pouring of the large trade of the Ohio and Erie Canal northward into Lake Erie, thence through the Erie Canal into New York, was for many years an eyesore to Pittsburg, and led to bitter feelings here against Philadelphia. Pittsburg had urged for years with all the energy in her power that Pennsylvania could and should secure this vast market of the West for the benefit of her tradesmen. The tardy action of Philadelphia was responsible for the diversion of much of this trade to New York.
During the week ending April 17, 1835, there were sent East over the canal, . among other things, 3,126 barrels of flour, 1,222 half boxes of window-glass, 40,870 pounds of ginseng and 20,109 pounds of pearlash. From seventy to eighty canal-boats departed eastward daily. The business done here in the spring of 1835 in all departments of trade had never been exceeded. In one week nearly 1,100 tons arrived here on the canal and the crush was a sight to behold (v).
For three weeks before March 13, 1835 (before the canal had opened), it was estimated that seventy wagons arrived from Philadelphia and Baltimore
(t) "Old Merchant" Gazette, June 30, 1835.
(v) Numerous issues of the Mercury, Manufacturer, Gazette and other papers of 1835.
170
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
daily with merchandise, each carrying 4,500 pounds (w). The goods were stored in warehouses, where they were inspected and bought by Western mer- chants and shipped down the Ohio. From March 20 to July 1, 1835, there went east 22,785 barrels of flour, 5,189,534 pounds of bacon, 2,552,319 pounds of tobacco, 284,716 pounds of lard, 201,145 pounds of furs and peltry and large quantities of other commodities. On all these shipments it was estimated that $30,000 was saved in freightage. The great increase in trade led to the forma- tion, in 1836, of the first Board of Trade in Pittsburg. Among the first members were B. H. Fahnestock, T. W. Burbridge and T. B. Wainwright. The Board convened for the first time for the transaction of business on January 14, 1836, but was not chartered until April 3, 1837.
"The steamboat Moravian left Pittsburg a few days ago with the largest cargo every carried from it. A large part of it consisted of pine boards, planed, tongued and grooved, which had been brought down the Allegheny River from the State of New York and were destined for the Illinois River, 1,600 miles off" (x).
From April I to October 1, 1836, there were exported eastward on the canal from Pittsburg 3,619,068 pounds of bacon, 210,455 pounds of lard, 39,578 bar- rels of flour, 49,875 pounds of feathers, 85,472 pounds of deerskins, 4,144,255 pounds of tobacco and 816,177 pounds of wool (y).
In 1836 there were shipped down the Ohio River bulk articles to the amount of 146,400 tons; and the steamboat tonnage for the same time reached 74,734 tons. The amount of lumber from the Allegheny River passing through the Pittsburg market in 1835 was 9,000,000 feet, and in 1836 was 7,028,814 feet. In 1834, 24,38I barrels of salt were inspected here; in 1835, 18,273 barrels, and in 1836, 17,460 barrels (z).
In the fall of 1836 the following commission merchants were doing business here: Allen & Grant, Lewis Hutchison & Co., Jacob Forsyth & Co., Butler & Crutcher, Hanna & Poindexter, Hutchison & Ledlie, Moses Atwood, John D. David, T. S. Clarke & Co., May & Andoe, McShane & Kellys.
In 1836, during the busy season in the spring, it required 250 drays and carts to do the necessary hauling. Constant employment was given to 100 teams of four, five and six horses at this time, also, in hauling coal from the mines and . flatboats to the factories, ships, residences, etc. It was noticed that business had swelled to an almost incalculable amount (a). Philadelphia did not become a cus- tomer of Pittsburg for coal until a short time before 1836. Before that date large quantities had gone down the Ohio River. All that went East had to go via Pittsburg.
"There are not less than 100,000 barrels of flour in the towns upon the Ohio River, from Pittsburg to its mouth, waiting a clear river and a good stage of water, to be sent to market" (b).
FROM MIDDLE OF FEBRUARY TO APRIL 20, 1836.
Boat Arrivals. Boat Departures.
Louisville and Cincinnati.
89
89
New Orleans . .
II
8
Wabash River
5
6
Nashville
7
IO
St. Louis
I8
34
Kanawha
I
0
Illinois.
3
I
(w) Gazette, March 13, 1835.
(y) Western Address Directory, 1837.
(a) Gazette, many issues, 1836.
(x) Niles Register, April 16, 1835.
(z) Western Address Directory, 1837.
(b) Cincinnati Post, January 27, 1836.
171
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
Boat Arrivals. Boat Departures.
Independence, Mo
I
3
Florence.
O
I
Galena.
2
Peoria.
I
Fort Smith or Coffee.
I
Marion (c)
0
I
Totals.
I35
I57
"The manufactures and mechanical products and sales of all kinds of goods, foreign and domestic, by all our manufactories, wholesale and retail, and com- mission merchants, may be estimated at from $20,000,000 to $25,000,000. The value of every description of foreign and domestic goods received in transitu from the Eastern cities and passing through the hands of our commission mer- chants for all parts of the West and South may be estimated at between $60,000,- 000 and $70,000,000, and perhaps it will not exceed the truth to say that the whole of the goods manufactured or imported and sold in our city, or passes through or by, amounts to the enormous sum of about $100,000,000. In this calculation two of our most extensive commission houses, who have been con- sulted, concur with the writer. Canal lines for the transportation of merchandise: Western Transportation Company, daily, lines 2; Western Dispatch Company, daily lines, I; Ohio and Kentucky Company, daily lines, 2; Union Company, daily lines, 2; Pittsburg Company, daily lines, 2; Pennsylvania and Ohio Company, daily lines, 2; People's Company, daily lines, I; Reliance Company, daily lines, 2; total regular canal lines, 14. Canal daily passenger lines: Good Intent Com- pany, I; Pioneer Company, I; Leech & Co., I. Total passenger canal lines, 3. The following is a list of regular steamboat, freight and passenger lines: United States Mail Line, I; Good Intent Company, I; Ohio Pilots' Line, I; St. Louis Line, I; Louisville Passenger (to commence soon), I; Line to Beaver, I; Line to Wellsville, I; total steamboat lines, 7" (d).
The panic of 1837 fell like death upon the commercial interests of Pittsburg. Many of the merchants had conducted a credit business with the Western country and could not collect a cent. This forced them to beg time of their creditors in the East. In February, 1837, it was estimated that there was due the local merchants in money which they could not collect $10,000,000 (e). Money was very scarce and the pressure extremely severe, and worse times were coming. Manufacturers began to close down, merchants to collect and settle up, and all to meet the coming crisis. The Merchants' Exchange, which met in Irwin's building, could afford no relief; neither was the Board of Trade of any service to the distressed business men. When the pressure first came in Janu- ary, 1837, the chaos in commercial circles began to be felt. In May cotton, which a short time before had sold here for seventeen cents a pound, was offered for eight cents. The Monongahela Navigation Company, on May 25, resolved to suspend operations for sixty days. All the banks suspended specie payments. Money became so scarce that prices of all kinds doubled or trebled in value, and Pittsburg, Allegheny and the boroughs passed ordinances authorizing the issue of shinplasters to relieve the situation. In the fall of 1837 trade here had revived somewhat. The retail grocery trade was good, and wholesale trade fair; iron, nails and glass trade was good; dry goods, hardware, shoes, bonnets, queensware, looking-glass trade fair. Money was still very scarce, but the Pittsburg merchants had weathered the storm better than almost any other
.
(c) Daily Advocate, April, 1836.
(d) "Old Merchant" in Gazette, November 10, 1836.
(e) Harris' Intelligencer, February, 1837.
172
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
Western city. The Upper Allegheny River trade was good, and immense quan- tities of pig-iron began to come down from Venango County. One man brought down by boat 700 patent buckets from Jamestown, New York (f).
In 1838 the Board of Trade was quite a pretentious body. They managed a reading-room in the Merchants' Exchange, on Fourth Street, where newspapers from all parts of the United States could be seen. The membership fee was $5 per annum. It was this year that friction matches in large quantities began to fill the stores here. In February, 1838, large numbers of pheasants were offered for sale in the local markets. It was declared that their flesh was poisonous, as they fed on laurel. On March 3, 1838, there were lying at the wharf here thirty- eight steamboats, waiting for the opening of the rivers, and from the Ioth to the 19th of March, inclusive, 107 steamboats arrived and departed. The great scarcity of money seriously hampered trade, and the sale of dry goods in pack- ages interfered much with regular merchandising. During the week ending April 4, 1838, there were sold here 97,600 pounds of bacon, 11,000 barrels of flour, 430 barrels of ale and porter, 46,500 pounds scorched salt, 980 boxes of window glass, 24,000 pigs of lead, 27,000 pounds of castings, etc. Wheat stood at $I per bushel. There were cleared at the Allegheny Canal office eastward from March 27 to May 5, 1838, products as follows:
Flour
Wheat.
43,650 barrels. 7,324 bushels.
Bacon
. 2,890,229 pounds.
Tobacco . 1,024,061 pounds.
Hemp
431,672 pounds.
Cotton
410,495 pounds.
Wool.
129,747 pounds.
In 1838 the Allegheny River trade was very brisk, with three steamers, which usually towed keel and other boats, and carried both passengers and freight. In fact the trade on this river in 1838 nearly doubled that of any previous year, and immense quantities of lumber came down; the common worth $7, clear $14, pine boards.
"In conversation with an extensive lumber dealer from Warren, who has been long engaged in the trade and has a general knowledge of the business, he stated as his opinion that of boards and planks there came annually down the Alle- gheny River upwards of 100,000,000 feet, exclusive of immense quantities of pine and oak logs, joists, scantling, shingles, lath, etc." (g).
"Several of our wholesale hardware and queensware merchants import their goods direct from the British manufactories, via New Orleans and the Mis- sissippi and Ohio rivers, or via Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York and the Pennsylvania Canal. One of our wholesale merchants left Pittsburg about three months since, visited the British manufactories, bought an extensive supply of hardware and arrived with his goods a few days since. All our wholesale dry goods, hardware, grocery, queensware, shoe, bonnet, looking-glass and other stores and our manufacturing establishments are actively preparing for an early fall business, and it is pleasing to witness the return of activity after the dullness of the summer season" (h).
In September, 1838, occurred a large sale of Durham cattle on the stock farm of Mr. Denny, near Pittsburg. Over forty cattle, some with pedigrees as long as the moral law, were sold at auction.
"The wharves present at this moment one of the most animated and animat-
(f) Gazette, 1837.
(g) Harris' Intelligencer, July, 1838.
(h) Harris' Intelligencer, August, 1838.
I73
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
ing scenes we have witnessed in a long period of time. Twenty steamboats lie at the landing taking in cargo for Louisville, St. Louis, Nashville, New Orleans and 'intermediate ports,' as the phrase goes. The whole of our broad levee, from the bridge to Ferry Street, is closely dotted with drays and wagons, hurrying to the margin of the river from every point of access, burdened with the valuable products of our factories or with Eastern goods. Some half dozen of the steam- ers are puff-puff-puffing away ready to start. The margin of the wharf is abso- lutely covered to the height of a man with freight in all its varieties; higher up on the streets and footwalks, the fronts of the great forwarding houses are blocked up by piles of boxes, bales and barrels, in beautiful disorder. Shippers, porters, draymen and steamboat clerks blend their hurried voices at once; one is actually deafened with their cheerful din and rush of business. Verily the scene is a pleasant one-to all for whom business has a charm. Our sanctum is a mar- velously dull and weary place after a visit to the river. Some idea may be formed of the magnitude of our manufactures from the fact that the larger iron houses have 800, some 1,000, some as high as 1,200 tons each of iron and nails, ready for shipment to the West. A few days, however, will rid us of the surplus which has accumulated so largely only in consequence of the protracted sus- pension of steamboat navigation" (i).
"At noon to-day we counted eleven steamboats engaged in taking cargoes. The Philadelphia has bills up for departure this afternoon. The others will go to-morrow or next day. Nine other boats lie at the wharf ready to commence taking in freight as some of the eleven depart. Other boats may be soon expected from below and above, so that all the merchandise now here will soon be shipped. We have not for a long time seen our business men look so cheerful and busy" (j).
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